There have been modules where I encounter new and exciting ideas, and modules where ideas are reinforced that I already know deeply to be true. That stories are powerful tools of establishing identity, community, and creative spaces is the later.
I spent my early twenties devouring storytelling podcasts. I started with The Moth, which is one of the better known, and then went down endless rabbit holes of different storytelling organizations–I’m fairly sure that RISK!, the podcast where “people tell true stories they never thought they’d dare to share” is my most listened-to podcast of all time, and that’s a high order! I listened to these stories constantly: while making breakfast, commuting, at work when I could, at the gym, everywhere. In retrospect, I’m so grateful that I was able to seek out and find such a diverse set of stories at such a young age, because it has set me up well to move through life curious and with an open-mind, while also understanding the comforting truth that there is no conundrum I can find myself in that has not been faced and survived by many people before me.
The next natural step for me was to step up to MC a weekly poetry open mic, which I did for four years up until the pandemic hit. That was where I got to see the incredibly powerful way telling a personal story honestly can build a strong community like nothing else–hearing all of those stories had bolstered me as a person, but to see the direct connection formed by sharing them in person brought things to another level.
Picture of me sharing my story through poetry with my community back in 2019.
So it seems obvious and exciting that incorporating story telling activities into library programing is such an easy and good fit. All of the ideas that have been floating around this course of community, creativity, gathering, and learning all scaffold so well into storytelling events. The act of writing one’s story can be so empowering and healing, and the act of hearing others’ builds empathy and community.
Stories are what made us all fall in love with libraries in the first place. Community storytelling is a natural and wonderful project for the hyperlinked library!